Celebrating 10 years in business, Glas Civil Engineering Ltd is delighted to be shortlisted for an Irish Construction Excellence Award in the ‘Public Realm’ category for its successful delivery of a new public plaza within the former Kickham Barracks in Clonmel, Co. Tipperary.
The Irish Construction Excellence Awards (ICE Awards) are the original and premier recognition of performance excellence for the contracting sector in Ireland, and provide an opportunity for the industry to showcase and reward best practice across the full range of construction disciplines and project categories.
Glas Civil Engineering was established in 2013. Since then, the company has grown in a consistent and structured manner and now has a turnover approaching € 20 million. Glas Civil Engineering employs a well-trained professional workforce of approx. 100 people to manage and execute a wide range of projects nationwide.
Schemes undertaken to date which demonstrate competence in the following areas; roads, including new schemes along with urban road rehabilitation schemes, new bridge schemes along with significant bridge rehabilitation schemes, major public realm works, construction of greenways, active travel schemes, marine works involving works to wharfs, piers, breakwaters and outfalls, flood defence schemes, conservation and restoration of protected structures and emergency works undertaken for several local authorities.
Glas, which is the Irish for ‘green’ is committed to the minimisation of carbon usage for both the activities involved in the execution of the works along with carbon usage for the permanent Contract Works. In line with the Company commitments, Glas is actively upgrading our plant to lower carbon emitting options. Furthermore, Glas operates a policy of “recycling and reusing” with the view to reducing the carbon footprint of the Contracted Scheme.
Glas places a strong emphasis on its people and as such, continually endeavours to ensure that all employees have a chance to reach their potential through training, further education and professional development. With a workforce based across the country, the company is well placed to offer its services nationwide to new and existing customers.
Currently working on projects for the following Clients, Fingal, Louth, Meath, South Dublin, Wexford, Kildare, Tipperary & Kerry County Councils. Glas Civil Engineering has excelled itself with the Kickham Barracks public realm development for client Tipperary County Council.
“We are very pleased with the finished product. It was a real team effort between ourselves, Ove Arup & Partners Ireland Ltd and Nicholas de Jong Associates,” says Evan Causer, who acted as Senior Engineer on the project.
Kickham Barracks – formerly known as Clonmel Barracks – is located in the heart of Clonmel, having been established on the current site in the late 18th century. After 230 years of service, the Irish Defence Forces vacated the Barracks in March 2012. Tipperary County Council is now undertaking the redevelopment of the Barracks in accordance with the Master Plan developed for the site. The overall site is approximately 10 acres. This Master Plan includes a co-located campus for both Higher Education and Further Education, and a new Garda HQ.
The overall scope of the project was to develop a new urban civic space to act as a focal point and space for recreational, cultural, celebratory and other events. The initial phase of the redevelopment involved the construction of a new public realm area of approximately 10,000m2, including a mix of hard and soft landscaping along with feature lighting and canopy.
The entire project team bought into the vision of delivering a high-quality public realm project in the heart of Clonmel and took responsibility for ensuring the highest standard of finishes was achieved.
“This project kickstarted the redevelopment of the site and plans for new campus facilities for in excess of 400 students,” Evan adds.
As with all civil engineering projects, Kickham Barracks provided its fair share of challenges. These included the Covid-19 pandemic and the impact it and the war in Ukraine had on the supply chain and the delivery / availability of materials. All works on site were subject to the CIF Covid-19 operating protocols. In order to mitigate against the virus, all site staff were tested daily. In addition, all plant and machinery were sanitised daily. The site protocols ensured that disruption to the works were by and large mitigated and there were zero site transmissions.
To counteract supply chain issues, Glas undertook an early procurement review to establish what materials had the longest lead-in times. Material approval for all products was sought at the outset and orders were placed as soon as practical to confirm delivery dates. In addition, all other materials were ordered as soon as practical and stockpiled on site or in the contractor’s yard. Unfortunately delays in shipping meant that some specialist paving along with some furniture were several months late. To mitigate these delays, Glas revised the project programme based on progressing works based on material availability.
There was a prolongation of the overall programme due to delays with materials. However, the programme based on lead-times ensured that Glas deployed optimum resources to deliver the project in line with the available materials.
Electricity feeds through the site and to the adjacent Tipperary ETB (Education Training Board) facility had to be protected during the course of the works. In order to secure that feed and minimise the risk of accidental damage, Glas installed a diversion outside of the works area . The disconnection/reconnection of the power was coordinated in advance with Tipperary ETB (Education Training Board) campus, so that classes weren’t disrupted.
Impact on the general public and local community was minimised in so far as practical for the duration of the works. Solid hoarding was erected around the site to minimise the potential for dust emissions, while traffic marshals were utilised for directing traffic in and out of the site. Traffic management arrangements were also coordinated with Clonmel Borough Council to limit disruption to local traffic.
Glas operates in accordance with a number of quality and safety standards, including ISO 9001:2015, 14001:2015 and ISO 45001:2018. These standards ensure that projects are undertaken in accordance with recognised quality assurance standards. This project was audited as part of the company’s NSAI re-accreditation and there were no corrective actions required following the audit. Glas Civil Engineering engaged Site Safe Solutions to work in conjunction with the site team to manage safety on site. Working together they achieved no accidents, incidents and zero working hours lost.
As Glas Civil Engineering continues to go from strength to strength, the company would like to take this opportunity to thank its clients, suppliers and design teams for their continued support as well as its staff and subcontractors for their hard work, dedication and expertise.
Here’s to the next 10 years!
Glas Civil Engineering Ltd
Breac Dearg,
Kilheffernan,
Clonmel,
Co. Tipperary.
Telephone: +353 (0)52 6178 326
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.glascel.ie
This article was published in Building Ireland Magazine, July 2023, Vol 9 No 7
